


Harsh Words

by lokidotr



Category: Galra Keith - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender, klance - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokidotr/pseuds/lokidotr
Summary: Narrated by Keith, this is the story of the red lion. Discovering his true self, Keith is faced with conflicting feelings, about himself, about his origin, about Lance... Will they accept him for who he is? When his true self is revealed, will they still treat him as a defender of the universe, or treat him as the enemy?
Be ready for fluffy family life, Klance trash, and emotionally straining scenes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer! I do not own any of these characters, and the pieces I write are only inspired by the wonderful work Dreamworks has done! Enjoy! (I'll try to stay as true to the characters as possible!) In these chapters I will try to split it up by event, but I will be posting the work a chunk at a time. If you are sensitive to brief language or major intimate moments, just... just skip those parts! Thanks for understanding!

Piss off. That was the last thing he said to me when I left the training hall. It's not uncommon for Lance to be in a bad mood when we are done with training, but the past week of training he had been a total ass to the rest of the team. What had ruffled his feathers beat me. I hadn’t known really anything about him.

After I left the training hall, I made my way back to my room and slammed the door. The past week, every word out of his mouth seemed to be an insult or threat. Most of the people on the team thought my silence, and reluctance to get along with Lance was just my retaliation against his poor attitude.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

Since I had met the young, high spirited pilot, I had always been intrigued. Interested in his capabilities and character. Every little thing he did caught my attention... threw me off balance. I hated it. Hated the fact that he could do that to me. What was it? What about him caught my attention, what about him mesmerized me the way it did?

Ignoring these thoughts to the best of my ability, I did what I do best; I shut him out. I've always seemed to be good at that.

After slamming the door of my bedroom, I could let go of the act. I locked the door and took off my signature red jacket. My bayard slipped from my fingers and halfheartedly rattled on the tile floor. Most days, I could shove off the hurt feelings I had every time Lance threw an insult at me. But some nights, I couldn’t. Recently, I hadn’t been able to hide my feelings as easily. They came out in my lack-luster fighting, some of the inflections in my voice...

I kicked the bayard across the room in frustration, and it bounced off the blank wall leaving a dent. I sank to my knees and wrapped my arms around my chest to slow my breathing. Tears stung at my eyes, increasing my frustration. Why did I have to cry? Why did his words hurt enough to do this to me? Lance was an-an idiot!

Then why? Why did I feel this way when his words hit me? Why did I allow his anger to penetrate my heart like a dagger? I had no idea... or, at least, no idea I would admit. 

After calming myself down, I was able to sleep, if only for a few hours, with the lingering hope that Lance would be better in the morning.

.....................................................................................................

My wishes, sadly, did not come true the next morning. In fact, on that particular day, I awoke with a splitting headache, and a sick feeling deep in my stomach. Trying to suck it up and act normal, I put on my shirt, combed my hair, and headed to breakfast where Lance was already ranting to Pidge and Hunk about the training sessions to come.

"The problem, is that Allura, is pushing us too hard. Couldn't the saviors of the universe get a resting day? Is one day too much to ask?" His eyebrows were furrowed, and he shoved another mouthful of green slime into his mouth. I sat down across from him, and looked down at my plate

"Well well, if it isn't sleeping beauty. Get enough beauty rest Aurora?" He taunted, but my mind was somewhere else. I gave a feigned half chuckles and looked down at my plate. The nauseous feeling in my stomach grew more intense, and I cringed, pushing the goop away from me.

"Come on Keith," Shiro said as he walked in. "None of us are very fond of the stuff, but you have to eat something before practice." He was right, as always, and I reluctantly picked up the spoon on the table. I was only able to down a few bites before I gave up. Every time I swallowed my stomach began to feel more and more unsettled. Satisfied with my three quarters full bowl in front of me, I pushed it away from me and slouched down in my chair, attempting to comfort my stomach.

Breakfast continued as usual, and right on que Allura followed by Corran entered the room and gave us our routine for the day.

"Today's regimen is fairly simple; we will be sparring this morning, and later today, you will practice flight drills in your lions." After the brief speech, we got suited up and entered the training hall. Hunk and Shiro were first, but I didn't pay them much attention. All of my focus was on not losing breakfast. My forehead had started to sweat, thank god for my long hair or the other paladins would have noticed. 

When Hunk and Shiro's sparring session had ended, Lance and I were called to spar next. It had to be Lance. Quiznack.

"All Right! I get to kick some mullet boy butt! This is proving to be a good day." He taunted, but I didn’t register. My head was beginning to spin, the room was an unsteady mess. I shook it off and got into a fighting stance. When Allura started our round I could barely deflect Lance's blows.

"Oh come on Keith! You always kick my butt in sword to sword combat! Slacking much!" He took another jab that glanced off of my shoulder. "Try harder, don’t let me win!" He said, interlocking his leg with mine and delivering a blow from his elbow to my stomach that sent me sprawling onto my back.

Shit. That did it.

I quickly sat up, tossed my bayard at lance and ran off the training pad, all the while Allura shouted to get back, but I couldn’t.

"Where are you going? Are you seriously running away?" Lance called after me, letting out a laugh that was cut short.

I got to the nearest waste shoot and stuck my head through. The sound of my breakfast going down the long dark tunnel was all that could be heard in the training hall. After a few moments, unsure if my stomach was done with its complaints, I slowly turned back around to face my friends. All the faces were that of shock, pity, unease, and guilt.

"Keith, are you alright?" Shiro asked, and began to get up.

"I'm fine," I said, and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. "I will be in my room for the remainder of the day, Allura?" I said, and looked up at her with a pitiful look.

"Take your leave Keith. You need rest. As for the rest of you..." She looked around at the rest of the paladins, their faces were a mixture of disgust and worry. Allura sighed.

"Your fellow paladin is sick, and needs treatment. Take care today." She said, then turned and exited the room.

Within the next fifteen minutes, I had been taken to my room, having to stop at a waste shoot a total of three times. Fairly certain there was nothing left to heave, I had been laid down in my bed, and Shiro had left to get some medicine and other well formulas. It wasn’t until Allura came into my room, was I genuinely surprised.

“Keith, how are you feeling?’’ She said, and sat down at the end of my bed. “Your face is very pale.” With no energy, I gave her a halfhearted smile.

“Like crap.” I said, and feigned a smile again. She gave a worried smile, then began tucking the blanket around my feet carefully.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you felt this way? I hope, not too long.” She said with a guilty expression. I opened my mouth to respond, but I had to think about it. I hadn’t been feeling the best that morning when I got up, but in all honesty, I had felt off since the week before. I had hoped the feeling would suppress itself before my birthday in a few days, but it had remained. I didn’t want Allura to worry, so I responded.

“Just this morning, I woke up with an upset stomach and a headache. I probably shouldn’t have eaten breakfast, but, I’ve never been one to admit I’m the weak link.” She looked down at me for a moment, then brushed my sweat ridden hair off of my forehead, and very gently leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“Get some rest, Shiro is making soup, although, I’m pretty sure he’s burning it.” She let out a small laugh, the focused back on me. “You are well taken care of. You’re fellow paladins will be in shortly to keep you company, if you wish.”

“That…” And in that moment, I truly knew I was sick, because in no other circumstances, would I have agreed to have the other four, noisy paladins in my room. “That sounds great.” She smiled and got up, then gently closed the door behind her.

About five minutes went by, and I willed myself not to be sick again, Katie and Hunk came in in their pajamas.

“You guys, it’s barely noon,” I said, and they exchanged glances at their pajamas.

“Well,” said Katie, “We know how awkward you get when you are in your pajamas, so we figured we’d join you.”

“We can all be awkward together!” Hunk added cheerfully. My face lit up. Katie crossed the room and Hunk sat beside my bed. She set up a screen on one of my blank walls, and stopped for a moment, examining the fresh dent in the wall I had meant to cover.

“What’s this?” She said, running her hand over the mark.

“I-it’s nothing to worry about.” I said, trying to reassure her with a smile. She just looked down at me a bit concerned, the smiled weakly and went back about her business. When she was done setting up the screen, she sat down by Hunk and took out a control pad.

“What movie would you like to watch Keith?”

“I didn’t know we had movies in space?” I said, and rolled over to get a better look.

“Come on, Keith, you seriously underestimate my powers?” She said, playfully flexing her arms. Hunk rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah, come on, let’s pick one.” We sat for a moment in silence as Pidge scrolled through our options. My face lit up as she scrolled over Mama Mia. I began to blush, unsure if I wanted to admit I loved that movie. But I was sick, why not?

“Um… how about that one?” I muttered, barely audible.

“Which one?” Katie asked, scrolling back up. “Mama Mia?” I said, almost in a whisper.

Katie looked up at me in surprise, and for a solid moment I knew I had made a mistake and I would never live it down. But she just smiled, “Mama Mia it is!”

“I love this movie.” Hunk said, leaning over so only I could hear “I’m just glad I’m not the only one.” We both chuckled and the movie started. Just having my friends around me made me feel better. Although I still had a few moments where the movie had to be paused so I could relieve my stomach, they stayed with me. By the end of the movie, we were singing the songs, and having, genuine fun. Shiro came in with his third attempt at soup, and a few extra blankets. It was funny to see the strong leader of our team in lion footy pajamas, but we laughed it off.

The movie ended, and I gave a small yawn, rolling back over into my comfortable blankets.

“Alright Keith, time for you to try and get some sleep. We’ll leave you to it.” They all got up and headed for the door, saying their informal good byes. After they left, I fell asleep instantly. I only woke up a four hours later, because someone entered my room. They crossed and hesitated at my bed, I woke up when they lightly tapped my shoulder. I rolled over, dazed and sleepy, but feeling a bit better.

“Hmmm?” I said drowsily, and shielded my eyes from the light in the room. For a moment, my guard was down, until I recognized the familiar sun kissed skin and brown eyes. I immediately shifted in my bed and pulled the covers up.

“Lance.” I said, and looked away. He sat awkwardly by the bed. “Hey Keith… Nice hair” He said, and I attempted to calm my fluffy bed head. Another few tics went by awkwardly until Lance started to hum ‘Dancing Queen’ under his breath. I groaned and rolled over onto my face.

“You weren’t even there.” I said, my voice muffled in the pillow.

“Hey, it’s a catchy song.” He said defensively. I rolled back over.

“How do you know that song?” I asked, and watched Lance’s ears turn a magnificent shade of red. He mustered up his pride, or what little was left. “I-I… have… sisters?” He said, and looked back up at me. We looked at each other for a solid three tics. Then we started to laugh.

When the laughing had subsided, Lance sighed, and his face fell a bit when he looked back at my pale face. 

“You sure you’re alright? I was sent in here to get you to come out for some food if you feel up to it. Shiro and Corran spent the whole afternoon looking for some real food, or at least, something other than slime.” Both of us let out a soft chuckle. “Besides, you sleep any longer and Aurora might not sleep tonight.” He teased, his signature grin back on his face. 

“I’ll come out, at least to socialize with the other paladins…” Lance started to get up and I stopped him. “Guess what?” I said, a smirk of my own graced my face. “What?”

“Allura kissed me today.” Said proudly, watching as the Cuban’s face went into shock, and then disbelief. “No way.” He said.

“Yes way. Right here on my forehead,” I said, brushing my bangs aside. 

“Oh Keith. A kiss on the forehead? That’s not a real kiss, that’s platonic, sympathetic.” Out of instinct, I responded; “Oh yeah, prove it.”

Again, out of instinct, Lance didn’t back down from the challenge, but he didn’t react as I had expected. I had expected a long speech about love and the way he had been kissed, or a stuttered mess of a bad come back. Instead, he got up and leaned over my bed. He brushed aside my bangs, and kissed my forehead. Instantly I felt a rush of warmth through my face and body. His lips were, softer, that expected, and lingered a bit longer than I had ever anticipated.

After kissing my forehead, he quickly drew back, his face almost as red as mine.

“Well I think I’ve made my point I’ll just, uh, just go and uh,” He straightened up and fixed his jacket, turning for the door. He stopped in the door way and glanced back at me. “Food should be done by now, take your time.” I tried to speak but just nodded my head in response. “Good then, uh, see you in a minute.” He said quickly and shut the door behind him. 

The room became silent, and the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears.

Had that just happened? Did he really…did he really just do that? Questions started zooming through my head as I changed into sweats and a t-shirt. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and exited the room. Before I entered the hall I took a second to check my reflection in the glass window, to make sure I was no longer the shade beat red, when something in my eyes caught my attention.

“What the?” I leaned a bit closer, but before I could get a good look the door opened and I lost my train of thought.

“Keith! You’re alive!” Katie shouted jokingly. Wrapping her arm around my waist and leading me through the door. I pushed the thought of my eye out of my mind and entered into the hall.

The rest of the night was the best one I had had in many a year. I managed to eat some food, we laughed and talked, even played a strange rendition of a card game that Alteans played. The only downside was I never got to talk to Lance, he avoided me during downtime, chose a seat away from me, and only interacted with me when we were in a group. We exchanged a few awkward glances, but really didn’t talk. It was as if he was trying to pretend nothing had happened.

Maybe nothing had happened. Maybe I was blowing it out of proportion, or I had only thought Lance had felt the same way. I shoved those thoughts deep down, and enjoyed the night.

That is, until my head started to spin again. A sharp pain started out as a needle, but throughout the night became like a dagger in my side. When it got to the point I could no longer hide my pin, I stood up from the game.

“Hey guys, thank you so much for tonight, it really was amazing, but-“I winced and bent over, clutching my side.

“Keith are you okay?” I don’t remember who was saying what. I started to sway in and out of consciousness, the pain in my side was spreading to my face, and my eyes blacked in and out. Someone came to my side and caught me. I remember seeing lights in the hallway. A bed. Worried faces. Then it all went black. 

.....................................................................................................

When I woke up, the light from the room was almost too much. I squinted and looked around the room. I was in the medical bay. My sides and face still ached horribly, but I wasn’t going to let myself pass out again. Damn…. How could I have passed out in front of Lance? And… who had caught me? I looked beside the bed and saw a familiar face. “Keith”

Lance perked up, a worried expression still on his face. He looked awful. His hair was a mess and the bags under his eyes made it look as if he hadn’t slept in days. I tried to speak, only to find there was an oxygen mask over my mouth. Lance gently removed the mask, and I took a shocking breath of cold air. “Lance?” I said, my voice harsh and raspy. He looked down at me with a teary smile.

“Could… could you turn the lights down?” I managed weakly. “Yes, of course,” He said and jumped up to turn down the lights. While the room began to get darker, my eyes adjusted and the pain in my head eased up, only a little. “Thank you.” I said, and started to relax into the comfortable pillow.

“H-how do you feel?” Lance asked, sitting back down beside me. I gave a soft laugh.

“If I had a dollar for every time I have heard that in the past two days.” I looked over, expecting Lance to at least give a sarcastic smile, but instead his face was solemn, almost at the point of tears.

“How could you have heard anything? You’ve been asleep for three days.” He said, barely able to make eye contact with me, for fear he might cry.

“What? Three… three days?” I asked, bewildered and suddenly fully awake. He looked back at me, giving up at holding back his tears.

“I caught you before you fell, and we rushed you here. Your body started to jerk and… and your eyes, we didn’t know if you’d… if you’d make it.” He finished and took short shaky breaths. 

“Oh, Lance I,” But I didn’t finish. He reached up and wrapped his arms around my neck, embracing me in a hug. I hugged him back with what little strength I could. When he backed up, I straightened up.

“What happened to my eyes? I mean, why did you mention them?” He sat for a second before answering. “They… they’ve changed.” 

“What do you mean ‘they’ve changed’?” He shifted uncomfortably, “I don’t know if you’ll like this.” He said, and reached for the mirror to hand to me. I grabbed the mirror to look at my reflection. I didn’t notice them right away, my skin was still pale, and as I brushed my hair out of my face to get a good look, I almost dropped the mirror.

“This… this has to be a joke.” I glanced at Lance desperately. He only gave a pitiful look. My eyes were yellow, almost glowing. My once violet eyes were now yellow, the entire eye had a yellow glow.

“We still don’t know what could have done this. Allura has a sample of your blood and they have been running tests the past day now. We won’t have concrete results until later this week.” He said, and placed a hand on the bed. “I-I’m sorry.” I was going to retaliate and ask why again, but upon seeing his broken features, I stopped short.

“Have you slept?” I asked softly. His head lowered.

“No.” He said plainly. “I stayed here.” He gestured to the chair he was in. after a few moments I scooted over in the bed. “Come here.” I said, gesturing to the open spot in the bed. “What?” He said, suddenly surprised.

“I said come here. Lay down.” 

“N-no, you’re crazy no. I won’t steal your bed.”

“You’re not stealing it. I’m telling you to sleep. I know you won’t sleep as long as you think something is wrong with me. So do me the favor and comfort me and yourself. If you are up here with me I won’t go anywhere. Unless you push me off, the floor is as far as I’m going.” I winked at him, he stood for a second, hesitant. “Bed” I demanded.

He shifted into place alongside me, the bed was plenty big enough for one person, but was a bit smaller than I had anticipated. He awkwardly slid into the covers.

“Now sleep. And don’t just fake it, you need,” But as I looked over, I noticed his eyes were already closed and he was starting to breath softly. “Sleep…” I got comfortable beside him, and rested my head back on the pillow. As I drifted off, I heard the door open and Allura’s voice.

“We should begin tests when he wakes up, I suggest-“

“Wait,” Shiro’s voice. “I think we should give it a bit. It looks like he’s well taken care of, for now.” They silently exited and left the room.

As always, Shiro was right.


End file.
